


Shoot to Thrill

by lbhta



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-06 19:02:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1868946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lbhta/pseuds/lbhta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time they meet was not fun. But this was before Sid found out his name, before they started being on the same side, before the house and retirement and breakout and before Sidney had any idea that this is the man he would fall in love with. The first time they met, Geno spent a good 10 minutes with a gun trained on Sidney.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The first time they meet was not fun. But this was before Sid found out his name, before they started being on the same side, before the house and retirement and breakout and before Sidney had any idea that this is the man he would fall in love with. The first time they met, Geno spent a good 10 minutes with a gun trained on Sidney.

 After 3 years of doing what he does, Sid still can't get used to having somebody pull a gun on him. The flash of fear and anxiety never goes away, but he is experienced enough to not tense up too visibly or make any sudden moves.

"Look, I think you have the wrong guy here." Sid says, he pushes an edge of terrified into his voice just like Mario taught him to, "If it's money you want, you can have it. I'm just here on vacation, I swear."

"Sidney Crosby on vacation is still Sidney Crosby." The other man says, his voice is thick with a Russian accent, but he doesn't blink and his gun never waivers.

"I don't know who you're talking about." Sidney says, his training kicking in, "Look, my name is Bill, ok? Bill Cooper, and I work in a gym in Pittsburgh and I'm on vacation in Moscow. Please, please you have to let me go."

"Bill Cooper is bad name. Know you are Sidney Crosby." The man says, and Sidney thinks he might be smiling, but it's hard to tell under the ski mask he's wearing. "I kill Sidney Crosby, Russia gives me lots of money."

"I'll double it." Sidney says, "Whatever they would give you, I'll double it."

"2 million Euros." The other man says without pause, "They give 2 million."

"I…" Sidney knows logically that somebody working in a gym is not going to have that kind of money lying around, "Look, I don't know what to tell you. I'm a trainer in a gym and I make 80 grand a year. I… even if you kill me you're not going to get that kind of money."

"You trainer in gym? Ok trainer in gym, you get me to America, I not kill you." The man's finger is still on the trigger.

"Are you… are you defecting?" Sidney asks, "Because if you are - "

"Not defect. Just want to see sights. Want see Times Square and Vegas. Then come back." The guy says, his eyes are crinkled as if he's smiling, but again, it's not like it's easy for Sid to tell under that ski mask.

"Well, Bill Cooper can't get you to America." Sidney says, "Bill Cooper works in a gym. But he might know someone."

"Someone like Sidney Crosby Canadian spy?" The man asks.

"Sidney Crosby is not a spy, he's an intelligence worker." Sidney almost rolls his eyes, "Ovechkin, now there's a spy."

"Sanja very good diplomat. Not bad talk." The man says with a laugh, "Ok Bill Cooper, your friend get me to America, I not kill you."

"You have to tell me your name, and I need a photo." Sidney says.

Years later when Geno asks him why he had agreed so easily, Sidney tells him it's because he knew anybody who could get a jump on him would be an asset to Canada. He doesn't say that it's because the way Geno's eyes crinkle when he smiles, or the warmth of his laughter that made Sidney want to smile even when held at gunpoint.

"I am Yevgeni Malkin, you not need photo." The man says, and shifts his stance a little. The gun is still pointed at Sidney and his finger is still on the trigger, but all of a sudden his stance becomes loose and non-threatening. Sidney knows that this is one of the oldest tricks in the book, it's to make the other person trust you and relax their guard, but he finds himself mirroring Malkin's stance.

"You're Malkin?" Sidney's eyes widen. Malkin is one of the best assassins Russia has ever trained, ever since Sidney has been in the business, Malkin's name is all he hears coming from Russia. Since Ovechkin quit their field and became a security at the Russian embassy (read: spy), Malkin is the one who's been linked to over 71% of the assassinations in Russia and Europe.

"Yes, your country has many pictures, I think." Malkin says, "You make call, get me to America."

"Well I can get you to Canada, probably." Sidney says, wheels already turning in his head, "But…I don't know about America."

"I need to go to Pittsburgh." Malkin says, an edge to his voice, "You get me to Pittsburgh."

"I can't." Sidney says, he's reluctant to do it mostly because Pittsburgh is the base of Canadian operations in the US and he's not sure how much Malkin knows about what goes on there, but adding a Russian assassin to the mix can't be good for US-Canada relations at all.  "I can get you to Canada, that's it. My name doesn't carry weight in America."

"You get me to Pittsburgh, I work for Canada for one year." Malkin says.

"Five." Sidney counters.

"Three, but work from Pittsburgh." Geno bites out.

"Fine, but only Canada, no other country." 

"Fine." Malkin all but growls, "I put down gun, you run, I kill you."

"I'm not going to run," Sidney resists the urge to roll his eyes, but he does put as much exasperation as he can into his voice. "Or I would have when I noticed you were trailing me."

Malkin lowers the gun and pulls off his ski mask in one smooth move, "You notice me trailing but let me pull gun on you?"

"Well yeah, you were kind of my…you know, you were my file." Sidney shrugs. Not exactly, his file was to gather as much information as he can on Evgeni Malkin and report back without engaging. But Sidney thinks this is probably one of those times that Mario told him about where he can break protocol and use his best judgement.

"Oh Canadians fancy, have files." Malkin laughs as he tucks his gun away somewhere, "We go now?"

Two hours and a million phone calls later, Sidney learns two things, 1. It's not as easy as he thinks creating a new Canadian identity for a known Russian assassin, and 2. Whatever is waiting for Malkin in Pittsburgh, it requires him to be constantly texting.

"Could you not? At least turn your ringtone off, it's the worst." Malkin's text notification is the sound of a gun firing, and Sidney thinks it's possibly the most obnoxious thing in the world.

"Need to know when text comes in." Malkin shrugs, "Very important."

They're stuck in a hotel room that Malkin led them back to, there's barely any light that gets in through the thick curtains, and the ray of sun that does make it through only highlights the dust that's floating around. The chair Sidney is sitting on is honestly in danger of falling apart any second, and the mattress creaks in warning every time Malkin shifts his weight. Around them, the wallpaper is a disgusting shade that Sidney suspects might have once been yellow but now only reminds him of vomit.

There are two black duffel bags at the feet of the bed, Sidney's eyes keeps looking towards them, and he thinks they look suspiciously they have the guns in them. Sidney is not looking forward to explaining to a Russian assassin that he cannot brings guns onto an airplane.

"What's so important in Pittsburgh anyway?" Sidney whines, but he's smart enough to keep his voice low.

Or at least he thinks he does.

"Pittsburgh, best friend having baby. I godfather." Malkin looks up and his face splits into the biggest grin Sidney has ever seen. "Have baby soon. I be there."

"I … wait, what?" Sidney blinks, he thinks Malkin is lying, every single brain cell in his head is telling him that Malkin is lying, but the look of pure joy on Malkin's face is hard to fake. "Did you just defect to Canada for a _baby_?"

"Not defect, stay in Pittsburgh, have steady job, work then come back to Russia." Malkin laughs, but bows his head to look at phone when it goes off again. "Hurry up Bill Cooper, I in a hurry."

"I'm doing this as fast as I can." Sidney mumbles, "And you might as well drop the Bill Cooper thing."

"Oh, not like fake name? Is ok, mine even worse." Malkin laughs.

"What's yours?" Sidney asks, and a part of him knows he really shouldn't be making friends with the Russian assassin, since in all likeliness he'll get turned over to another handler to do his killing people stealthily stuff and Sidney will keep doing his intelligence surveillance stuff and they'll never see each other again, but something about the smile on Malkin's face and the twinkle in his eyes that makes it nearly impossible for Sidney to stop talking with him.

"Cannot tell, is trade secret." Malkin says, but winks at Sid anyway, "Maybe tell later if I not sue anymore."

"Well, I need your aliases anyway," Sid shrugs, "I mean, we have most of them, but I need the full list."

"You have ones I not use anymore." Malkin smirks and Sidney cannot help but find that sexy, "I let you have."

Sid is about to argue, but his phone rings and it's Mario's contact picture that shows up. Sidney thinks he might have strained something picking up the call.

"Sidney, it's done." Mario sounds tired, but pleased. "There's a plane waiting for you, you'll have to get him in to Vancouver, then somebody will meet you and take you to Pittsburgh."

"You'll be in Pittsburgh to meet us?" Sidney asks.

"Yes. I'm sending you encryptions for the coordinates."

"Thanks, Mario." Sidney says.

"You did well, Sid." Mario says, and hangs up right after.

"It's done, we can go now." Sidney says after he puts his phone back in his pocket, "Whenever you're ready."

"Well done, Sidney Crosby." Malkin flashes him a smile that is perhaps the combined wattage of a thousand suns, "Was good choice not to kill you."

 

The trip back to Pittsburgh was blessedly uneventful after Sidney realized that when Mario said there would be a plane waiting for them, it was just a plane. No pilot. Just a plane in the middle of goddamn nowhere.

Lucky thing that both of them knew how to fly a plane, and after that it had been smooth sailing.

They landed in the Abbotsford airport instead of the YVR, and a pair of handlers met them as they climbed out of the plane. Sid breathes out a sigh of relief when he sees two people he recognizes.

"Lu," Sid nods to the long-time handler he's been working with in Vancouver.

"Hey Sid," Luongo grins and gives him and Malkin the nod, "You know Kesler?"

"Yeah, of course." Sid flashes the other man a trained smile. Ryan Kesler has always been a reliable American contact on the West Coast of Canada.

"So, we got your man's papers right here," Kesler pulls out a sealed envelope from the messenger bag he's wearing, "They'll get him through the boarder no problem. Now, there are no direct flights from Vancouver, so you're going to do Vancouver, Newark, Pittsburgh."

"Ugh," Malkin groans from beside Sid, "Hate Newark. Cannot just fly plane to Pittsburgh?"

"No, there needs to be legal record of you entering the country with your new cover." Kesler grits out, and Sid thinks he maybe sees a vein on the other man's forehead throbbing.

"Yeah, it's not a problem. Thanks Ryan." Sidney says before Malkin can get another word in, "Say hi to the kids for me."

"Will do, Sid."

"Say hi to Flower for me." Lu waves happily as he and Kesler are walking away. Sidney thinks he might have heard a growl coming from Malkin standing next to him, but it's hard to tell over the noises in the hanger.

When they finally make it to Pittsburgh, both their nerves are frayed at the ends. Newark had been a nightmare, like it always was, and Malkin had cursed out the airport security under his breath first in Russian and then again in English, while Sid had only barely restrained himself from joining in. Even though they don't have any luggage to pick up from the baggage claim, it still takes them the better part of an hour to navigate from their gate to where Sidney wants to be, which is parked in Mario's driveway.

"Welcome home, Sidney." Mario smiles, and there's a second figure standing next to him who seems familiar to Sidney but for some reason he can't quite place.

Then the other person is stepping forward into the light and Malkin makes a choked up noise next to Sidney and suddenly the two of them are hugging and chatting away in Russian.

"Gonch?" Sid frowns, "You guys know each other?"

Sergei Gonchar had been in the business before Sidney joined. Sergei Gonchar had defected early, and stayed in Pittsburgh mostly doing recon work. He'd been a good mentor to have in addition to Mario, and never held back any punches during training. His wife always baked Russian treats during holidays and made him share with everyone else, which Sidney was a big fan of.

"Well, he's going to be godfather to my child, so yeah, I know him." Sergei says after he pulls away from Malkin. Years of being in Pittsburgh had softened his accent into something vaguely North American, his words are no longer lined with the harsh edges of Russian.

"Oh…you're - " Sidney stutters.  Because of course it was Gonch, somewhere in the back of his mind he had known the couple was expecting. In fact, if he looked he thinks there's probably a date circled on his calendar pinned to his fridge with the words "Gonch baby" written in it. And it's not like there are a lot of Russians in Pittsburgh with whom Malkin would be good friends, Sidney really should have known that it was somebody else in the business.

"Why don't you all come in the house? It's been a long day." Mario says, and it's one of those commands that's phrased as a question that Mario is fond of using, Sidney recognizes it for what it is, and Malkin must does too, because he doesn't protest, just shuffles in after Sergei and Mario.

"You should have said it was Gonch," Sid whispers when he thinks the other two are far away enough to not hear. "You should have told me."

"Would have said if you asked, Sidney Crosby." Malkin shoulder-checks him softly, "Is not secret we friends."

And yes, Sidney does remember at some point in time Mario had briefed Sidney on his team, and had something about Gonch having all the right connections back in Russia and how he had trained several of Russia's best. Although at the time Sidney had heard it more as a warning to not let Flower play his juvenile pranks on Gonch, and less of an actual useful piece of information.

"You should have said something anyway." Sid mutters, though he's not sure what difference the piece of information would have made.

"OK, next time I need smuggle out of country, I tell Sidney Crosby my life story first, good?" Malkin says without any bite to the words.

"Whatever." Sidney says, and he hasn’t had to resort to that in an argument in a very long time, not since he's started picking up how to chirp properly from Colby and Flower and Tanger.

"Sidney Crosby, very mature." Malkin shoulder-checks him again, but this time there's laughter in his voice and when Sidney turns there's a smile on the Russian's face and a twinkle in his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

There are perhaps three things in the world that Sidney hates the most.

One: he hates surprises. Really, really hates them. Which is why whenever he does any field work he makes sure to do all the prep work and research possible, and he always wears the same cuff links to a formal event if he's going undercover and he always double checks the buildings' blueprints and makes sure he has every exit, every nook and cranny memorized.

Two: he hates hand to hand combat. Honestly, he'd much prefer shooting somebody than hitting somebody with his fists. There's something about the brutality when it's pushed right up against him that Sid finds unsavory. So he always makes sure to pick up an extra gun and extra ammo before going into field work. RE: always prepared.

Three: he really hates losing contact with his handler, which is why he wears the stupid ear piece even when it sometimes rubs against his ear. But it's the price to pay to keeping Flower's annoying chatter in his ear at all time. There's something comforting about Flower and his slightly accented English, which switches into French some times when Sidney does something especially dangerous.

So, when he finds himself in opening a door to what he thought was a fire escape but turned out actually to be a boiler room, without either of his guns and only static coming in through his ear piece, Sidney thinks he's within his rights to curse. Loudly.

He turns around and tries to find something to jam the door shut with, but there are gun shots coming through the metal panes before Sidney can do anything, and he has no choice but to duck and back up slowly.

He has three pursuers. Sidney tell himself that it doesn't mean anything even though they are all bigger than he is, more muscular and probably has less compulsions about bashing somebody's head in with their fists than he does. Sidney knows that on a good day he should be able to handle them no problem, the bullet wound that went through his calf earlier is making it really hard to stand with his weight distributed evenly, and he wonders how long it's going to take Flower to track his GPS and find him here, and if he can hold off the three from killing him for that long.

The three of them approach him with their guns pointed at his head, clearly preferring to capture him alive for further interrogation on exactly what he had been doing spying on the guns deal that was going down. Sidney takes a second to slow his breathing and waits for one of them to be close enough that he could lunge and grab the gun from his hand.

But before he can do that a giant black shadow seemingly drops through the ceiling behind the three men. Sidney blinks, and before he can try to lunge forward for join the fist fight, the three men are already down on the ground, out cold.

"Sidney Crosby, not very good at his job." Malkin says, grinning and kicking away the guns where they dropped close to one of the man's hand.

"My job is intelligence gathering, and I gathered intelligence just fine. Not all of us are trained for high intensity combat" Sidney grits out, he's leaning on one of the walls in an attempt to try not to put weight on his left leg, "What are you doing here anyway? I thought they were still debriefing you."

 

After they came back to Pittsburgh, Malkin had gone to stay with Gonch. Sid had to sit through Tanger's debrief alone, which really just involved the French-Canadian shooting significant looks at Sidney and making dirty jokes about him and Malkin whenever possible. 

Sid had thought that maybe he would get to work with Malkin right away and had been looking forward to seeing the other man in action despite denying any feelings of anticipation to both Flower and Tanger. However, it out Russian assassins have to be put through rigorous training and psychological testing sessions before they can be let loose in the field.

Mario had shaken his head when Sidney asked when Malkin would be put to work, "A couple more months maybe, we need to make sure he's prepared to work in our system."

 

"Yes still debrief," Malkin shrugs, "But heard Sidney Crosby was on a job, think maybe would be fun to watch."

"To watch?" Sidney sputters, "Wait, where did you see my file? That's classified information, you shouldn't even have - "

"Ah, yes." Malkin nods slowly, "Classified, but I make good spy too, no? Maybe even better than Sidney Crosby one day."

"No, you can't - " Sidney fumbles with his words, hands waving about trying to get his point across.

"Oh, should go now, people coming." Malkin gives Sid the cheekiest grin possible, winks at Sid, and disappears into the shadows so quietly and instantaneously it was almost like he'd never been there in the first place. Except, of course, for the three men still knocked out on the ground.

Flower and Beau burst through the door two seconds later, eyes wide with worry.

"Woah, I thought for sure you would be dead." Flower says, and motions for Beau to move forward and check Sidney's injuries.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Sid says flatly, and tries hard not to flinch when Beau bends down to check his calf.

Beau's a decent kid, a little too young to be in this business, but Sidney comforts his maternal instincts by telling himself that Beau the medic is probably the least likely to get hurt out of all of them.

"What dude, did you turn Batman on them? I heard you say you lost your gun." Flower frowns as he nudges one of the bodies with his foot, "You ok?"

"Yeah I…" Sid looks at the three bodies, thinks about how he had envisioned the mission going and how it had actually gone and holds back the semi-hysteric laughter he feels bubbling up from his chest, "I managed to get the drop on them."

Flower walks up to Sid and frowns at him, they've went through most of their rookie training together, and Sid knows that even though he lies for a living, Flower can see through him in a heartbeat. Not to mention, Flower watches Sid when he does his hand-to-hand training with Brooksy, and Flower knows exactly what Sidney is capable of in a fist fight.

He breathes a sigh of relief when Flower doesn't mention it and instead just tells him that it's his turn filling out the mission report.

 

"So I hear you ran into a spot of trouble on your last assignment." Mario says at dinner. And honestly, Sidney thinks he should definitely move out just so he can save himself from having rather embarrassing conversations about his job with his boss after his official debrief at work.

"Uh, yeah. Blue print I had was an outdated version." Sid shrugs, "But nothing I couldn't handle."

"Sergei says Geno went off the radar for about an hour there," Mario says casually as he scoops up more mashed potatoes, "Well, they were supposed to see a movie I think, and Geno seemed to have slipped out after the first 10 minutes."

"You have Gonch spying on him?" Sid asks, he's indignant on Malkin's behalf.

"No, no of course not." Mario gives Sid a look that is half amused and half offended, "Sergei and I are friendly, we chat. That's all."

"Oh, well - " Sidney does a hand waving motion that he hopes conveys something to satisfy Mario, though he's not entirely sure what he's trying to convey.

"I only mean to say that," Mario says between bites of his food, "It would maybe not be the best idea to have a known assassin trailing you while you're undercover."

Sidney takes a sip of wine and hopes he could pass off the colour on his face to be from the alcohol. He doesn't say anything.

"Not that he can't trail you while you're off duty, of course." Mario flashes Sidney the smile that Sid has seen him use in attempts to charm the CSIS director into doubling their funding.

"I'm …what?" Sid almost spits out his wine, almost. But now the whole table is giggling at him and Natalie is hiding a smile behind her glass, "Nobody is trailing anybody, ok?"

"He'll be cleared for field duty tomorrow," Mario adds unhelpfully.

"Well,I don't know why you're telling me." Sid grumbles, and pretends to duel with Austin for the last piece of the cheesecake. He tells himself that the flutter he feels in his stomach is probably from something in the food, and definitely not related to anything Russian. 

 


End file.
